to

 

To is used to begin a command procedure. You can think of to as a way to define a set of actions/verbs for NetLogo such as to go, to add-money, etc. You can use these verbs anywhere in the code. Note: You must put end at the end of the procedure in order for it to work. Procedures can also be called from buttons! For example, using a go button (which is located on the Interface tab) runs the procedure created as to go ... end. Let’s see that in action.

to setup
clear-all
create-turtles 100
end

Setup is the procedure name. Clear-all & create-turtles 100 are the commands in this procedure. And end tells NetLogo that the procedure is complete. When this is used as a button, this all happens at once.

Another purpose for this primitive is to divide code into smaller pieces. For example:

ask turtles [
  wiggle  ;; first turn a little bit
  move    ;; then step forward
]

to wiggle
  rt random 90
  lt random 90
end

to move
fd 1
end

See how in the first chunk of code, you are calling the turtles to wiggle, then move. Wiggle and move are then written as a command procedure. It ends up saving you a lot of space!

 

Try it Yourself

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What's next?

Once you mastered the to primitive, don't stop there. Check out the resources below to improve your NetLogo skills.

 
Published NetLogo models that use the to primitive:
 
 
Similar primitives:
to-report

Begin a procedure to create a custom reporter.

Read more
end

Conclude a procedure.

Read more
ask

a reporter that is used to make the agents in the agentset do something.

Read more
repeat

allows you to execute any set of commands n amount of times

Read more
 
Learn another primitive